Recent posts from groups

Are you a New York State museum, historical society or heritage organization that wishes to engage more deeply in work related to Indigenous peoples? To assist you, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience – with generous support from the New York Council on the Arts – is offering free one-hour virtual consultations with four experts in awide range of Native American issues, including history, arts, women, and memorialization. Read more here.
Bridges of Memory: Connecting Communities & Classrooms was a series of community dialogues and virtual educator workshops with the aim to learn about genocides from the experiences and perspectives of local survivors and survivor communities. Topics included the Armenian Genocide, Holodomor, Holocaust, and Cambodian Genocide, as well as a focus on how individuals and communities share stories of loss and survival, navigate trauma, memorialize victims, preserve and celebrate culture, and...
Bearing Witness is an effort to document and interpret the events associated with the novel coronavirus epidemic in the United States as it pertains to racialized minorities. Our methodology is fairly simple. Our research team has established a series of Google alerts on specific topics related to mass incarceration, social determinants of health. We have drawn from these to create the Timeline below. The Timeline represents principally four types of events: data events, political events,...
Fifteen years old this week, Guatemala’s National Police archive has helped prosecute numerous officials for their roles in the country’s civil war. Now shuttered by a Trump-backed government, its dramatic history illustrates the crucial role of state archives in protecting democracy. “Even ten years ago,” the activist told me, “they would have killed all the people working on a project like that.” It was 2008, he was referring to the unlikely discovery and rescue of the archives of Guatemala’...
In October, the Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies welcomed Hasan Hasanovic to campus to discuss his experience as a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide. Mr. Hasanovic was 18 when Bosnian Serbs systematically murdered more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys in July 1995. Since then, Mr. Hasanovic has written an account of his story, Surviving Srebrenica (The Lumphanen Press, 2016), and spoken around the world on the topic of Srebrenica and genocide more broadly. For the last decade, he...
There is perhaps no single figure whose own life and career embodies the promise, success, and continued challenges of civil rights for Black Americans than John Lewis. We mourn this tremendous loss and look back on his incredible history through our holdings dating back to the early 1960s, including the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and “Bloody Sunday,” the first March from Selma to Montgomery.   Representative Lewis spent his life fighting for human rights and civil liberties and...
Archives for Black Lives in Philadelphia (A4BLiP), formed in 2016, is a loose association that now includes 80+ archivists, librarians, and information professionals in the Delaware Valley concerned about the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement and interested in finding ways to react and engage as community members and as archival professionals. A4BLiP has watched with alarm as Black library workers at the Free Library of Philadelphia (FLP) have surfaced significant complaints,...
The RBML’s archival, manuscript, oral history and University Archives are full of materials from people who were out and proud, recently revealed queer collections and likely materials and people still somewhat closeted by historical forces and past archival practices rooted in homophobia. You’re invited during PRIDE month, and every other month, to explore the collections we have on offer that begin to demonstrate the range of LGBTQIA people, voices and experiences. Read more here.
The LGBTQ Oral History Digital Collaboratory is excited to announce the completion of the Trans Collections Guide for The ArQuives: Canada’s LGBTQ2+ Archives! Drawing on research supported by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, a rotating team of Collaboratory and members of The ArQuives have been hard at work for the past six years to create The ArQuives’ first-ever Trans Collections Guide, offering researchers much-needed insight into The ArQuives’ extensive trans-...
The Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR) has announced immediate action to address recent allegations of systemic racism, discrimination and claims of sexual harassment at the Museum. “These allegations were not properly escalated to the Board of Trustees,” said Board Chair Pauline Rafferty. “Now that we have a more complete understanding of these events, we are taking immediate action and will undertake long‐term steps to address these issues.” The Board and CMHR...
In recent years, I’ve spoken (or tweeted) in passing about some of the ways I’ve been disabled by traditional academic conference models. I am intentionally using the verb tense “disabled.” Where the medical model of disability argues that I am rendered incapable by my own broken and deficient body, the social model of disability emphasizes that we are disabled by the hostility and inflexibility of our environment. The social model reminds me that pain and discomfort is not the inevitable price...
As noted in the Society of American Archivists’ June 2 Statement on Black Lives and Archives, the vitality of American archives depends on the safety of archives workers and an explicit commitment to social responsibility, justice, and anti-racism in the work that we do and the organizations we work within. The SAA Council convened this forum of reflection to move toward healing and understanding on the continuation of anti-Black violence and provide an affirmation of the importance of Black...
As racial terror against Black Americans continues, many cultural heritage associations and organizations have chosen to remain silent thus far. This is inexcusable, dangerous, and implies complicity on the part of those organizations. Archivists have a responsibility to combat racist practices in our profession and at large, particularly given the overwhelming whiteness of our profession. We therefore call on all cultural heritage organizations to publicly stand with the Black Lives Matter...
We are Black memory workers committed to documenting the Black experience during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the current uprisings brought about by racist police violence against Black people. Our work is imperative, especially as we witness this dual assault white supremacy has unleashed on Black people. We offer this call to action to ethically and comprehensively archive during this moment, to ensure that we shine light onto the oppressive systems that disproportionately subject Black...
On Friday, June 19th, Documenting the Now hosted a live streamed conversation with WITNESS, The Blackivists, Texas After Violence Project, and Project STAND. We are so thankful to the 800+ attendees and to our amazing panelists: Tracy Drake, Raquel Flores-Clemons, Erin Glasco, Stacie Williams, Skyla Hearn, Steven Booth, Gabriel Solis, Yvonne Ng, Lae’l Hughes-Watkins, and Jessica Ballard. Also much thanks to the Documenting the Now team members who helped put the event together: Alexandra Dolan-...
The RAO Section is organizing a Community Call to encourage discussion and support among SAA members. The focus of this Community Call will be on how the RAO community has been doing reference and outreach during this time of varied work environments. We hope this call will allow members to share challenges and successes, whether you are working remotely, in a hybrid model, or fully back in the reading room.   Please join us on Tuesday, November 10 from 12:30pm – 2pm EST. Feel free to drop in...
The Web Archiving Section is excited to announce the 2020-2021 Steering Committee leadership! The new roster is as follows: Chair: Tori MachesVice-Chair/Chair-Elect: Melissa WertheimerEducation Coordinator: Ryder KoubaCommunications Manager: April FeldmanSecretary: Kiera SullivanStudent Member: Allison Fischbach Congratulations and best of luck to those newly elected!
Oct 19, 2020   Web Archiving Section
Register Now for the Event: https://bit.ly/3deypX3 As we have begun returning to our collections over the past few months, there are sure to have been surprises waiting for us! Join the SAA Preservation Section for an informal virtual coffee klatch to catch up with each other and talk about the “new normal” in our workplaces. We are hosting an hour-long forum on Friday, October 16th from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm ET to talk about pandemic-related closures and the aftermath, with guided...
Oct 9, 2020   Preservation Section
Do you have an idea for an article, book, or presentation about design records but don't want to go it alone? It can be intimidating to get started, so why not work with your colleagues! There are several ways through SAA to get involved, including Archival Outlook, American Archivist, and the Case Study Series. There are also other publications outside of SAA you can contribute to. The upcoming issue of American Archivist is dedicated specifically to design records, but that doesn't mean you...
Oct 6, 2020   Design Records Section
As we have begun returning to our collections over the past few months, there are sure to have been surprises waiting for us! Join the SAA Preservation Section for an informal virtual coffee klatch to catch up with each other and talk about the “new normal” in our workplaces. We are hosting an hour-long forum on Friday, October 16th from 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm ET to talk about pandemic-related closures and the aftermath, with guided conversations about what is like to be back and group problem...
Sep 29, 2020   Preservation Section
2020 Special Election: Candidate Statements Thank you to our excellent candidates for standing in the 2020 Collection Management Section special election. Please take some time to review their candidate statements and get to know them so you can make an informed choice. You will be voting for one Steering Committee member (three-year term). Ballots will be managed by SAA staff through Survey Monkey; keep an eye on your inbox for when the ballot opens! Steering Committee Candidate Statements...
The Technical Subcommittee on Describing Archives: A Content Standard (TS-DACS) recently requested feedback on its proposal to adopt two new single-level minimum required descriptive elements: ·        8.2. Rights Statement for Archival Description ·        13.10. Rights Statement for Archival Authority Records As noted in the request, these elements were proposed by Alston Coburn (East Carolina University) and Patrick Galligan (Rockefeller Archive Center). They would require archival...
SAA's Technical Subcommittee for Encoded Archival Standards (TS-EAS) is pleased to highlight the following new resources in our GitHub repository, following on the SAA 2020 annual conference: We've updated our procedural handbook, to include a set of design principles that we began to formulate in early 2020 -- and codified at the conference. The design principles reflect recent decisions and will guide future discussions for the development of EAD, EAC-CPF, and any other schemas that might be...
Nominees for Vice-Chair Andrew Hinton - Head of Collection Development, Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University Andrew Hinton joined the Vietnam Center and Archive in 2015 as Assistant Archivist. In this role, Andrew manages the Archive of Modern American Warfare, which collects and preserves the records of modern veterans. Andrew works closely with post-9/11 veterans to ensure that their records – especially born-digital records – are made available for...
Sep 16, 2020   Web Archiving Section
Our 2020 SAA virtual section meeting recording is now available! This recording is free and open for anyone to view: Local Government Records Section | SAA.Complete list of section meeting recordings here: SAA Section Meetings | SAA